PHL400H5 F: Seminar in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
Instructor: James Allen T 3-6 PM
Two Platonic dialogues: the Theaetetus and the Sophist.
This seminar will be dedicated to a close reading of two of Plato’s most important and influential works, the Theaetetus and the Sophist. Unlike any of his predecessors and all but a tiny handful of imitators after him, Plato wrote dialogues, i.e., prose depictions of characters engaged in philosophical conversation, most notably his teacher and inspiration, Socrates. These two dialogues form a pair, sharing a cast of characters and a setting; the conversation depicted in the Sophist is set on the day after that depicted in the Theaetetus. On the first day, in the Theaetetus Socrates leads the conversation, which tackles the question: what is knowledge? A wide-ranging discussion, conducted with the aid of promising young mathematician, Theaetetus after whom the dialogue is named, touching on perception, belief, and the nature of thought considers three candidate answers without reaching a definite conclusion. In the Sophist, a visitor to Athens takes the lead, guiding the other characters and the reader through an intricate series of puzzles about truth and falsehood, eventually reaching positive results that illuminate the nature of being and the power of language and thought to capture reality.
PHL420H5 F: Seminar in 19th and 20th Century Philosophy
Instructor: TBD W 3-6 PM
Advanced discussion of principal figures and themes in 19th and 20th century philosophy.
Prerequisites: 3.5 credits of PHL or by permission of the Instructor or Department.
PHL432H5 S: Seminar in Metaphysics
Instructor: TBD R 11 AM -2 PM
Advanced topics in metaphysics.
Prerequisites: 3.5 credits of PHL or by permission of the Instructor or Department.
Exclusions: PHL430H5
PHL433H5 S: Seminar in Epistemology
Instructor: Nilanjan Das M 2-5 PM
Advanced topics in epistemology.
Prerequisites: 3.5 credits of PHL or by permission of the Instructor or Department.
Exclusions: PHL430H5
PHL475H5 S: Seminar in Moral and Political Philosophy
Instructor: Andrew Sepielli T 12-3 PM
Seminar in Moral and Political Philosophy
This class will explore the bearing of empirical work in psychology, neuroscience, and the social sciences on matters of fundamental moral philosophy. The basic idea is: If we want to know whether the output of a process is likely to be sound, it is crucial to know how the process works; well, moral judgments are the outputs of evolutionary, developmental, discursive, and other processes, and it’s via the aforementioned fields of inquiry that we might discover how these processes work. Readings will include some empirical work, some work in traditional normative ethics and meta-ethics, and some work that attempts to bridge the gap. Class will be mostly discussion-based and will culminate in a final seminar paper, but we will also dip our toes into experimental design and agent-based computer modelling. No previous experience in these empirical fields is required.
Prerequisites: 3.5 credits of PHL or by permission of the Instructor or Department.
PHL489Y5 Y: Socrates Project
Instructor: TBD F 1-3 PM
The Socrates Project (PHL489Y) is a full-year course with 3 components. First, you will serve as a TA for a section of PHL103H/PHL113H during the Fall and Winter terms. During the Fall semester, you will attend two 1-hour PHL103H/PHL113H lectures each week, and teach one tutorial of 20-25 students, meeting with them for 1 hour each week. You will grade their papers, hold office hours, and meet with the relevant professor as needed. You will be paid for approximately 100 hours of work each semester, for a total of 200 hours, at the current hourly wage for CUPE Unit 1. The second component of the course is a seminar that meets once per week for 3 hours each time, during the fall term. Most of the seminar will be devoted to more in-depth study of the topics taken up in the PHL103H/PHL113H; but you will also discuss the methods and challenges of teaching philosophy-grading papers, prompting and guiding discussion, and so forth. Third, during the winter term you will write a seminar paper, on a topic of your choosing, under the supervision of a UTM Philosophy faculty member working in the relevant area. You will also present your work orally at an undergraduate research conference held jointly with the Socrates students from the St. George campus. Admittance to the Socrates Project is by application only. Instructions and the application form are available on the web at: http://philosophy.utoronto.ca/employment/cupe-3902-unit-1
Prerequisites: Preparation: PHL245H5 and 4.5 PHL credits preferred.
